HuntingNet.com Forums - My first REAL attempt at Patched Roundball

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My first REAL attempt at Patched Roundball

I call my .440 Roundball a .490 :rolleye0011: Other than that I didn’t do to awful bad :)

This is a VERY Different Game than i am use to playing Fella’s, but i had a LOT of fun with this! I will be back at it again soon with a little more Knowledge than i had this morning :cool2:

One thing i found REALLY odd, my Home Cast .440 Balls made of 1-40 Alloy looked AMAZING the first 2 Shots! I mean REALLY Good, As good as my BEST Bullet Groups! I was Grinning :biggrin: I just knew i had this DOWN! That was until the 3rd shot, it went about 2” out??? The first time i chalked it up as my Fault, somehow i had pulled it? NOPE, it done it EVERYTIME!! The CRAZY part is, the first 2 Shots are literally Touching, But the 3rd and Each Shot after go AWOL??? What starts out as REALLY TIGHT ends up About a 3-4” Group? Luckily i had Some Soft Lead (Store Bought Hornady Swaged) I had wasted most of my Supplies before I realized that my Harder 1-40 Roundball weren’t gonna Cut it, at least after 2 Shots, CRAZY?? I am glad I didn’t pour up a Bunch of those in 1-40, I only have like 20-30 of them, I need to Cast up Some Pure lead and get back out, This Old CVA Mountain Rifle Shoots REALLY good, and is a LOT of fun to Shoot, Just barely Bumps the Shoulder, But this little Ball has to be SIZZLING right along, it should be about 1,700 FPS according to my Load data Stuff? I recovered 1 of my 1-40s, Pretty Darn Impressive! it actually Mushroomed like a Bullet? Pretty Cool!

I have no DOUBT i can beat this with more Pure lead, and Some actual Load development. This Group measures Exactly 1-3/4” Not bad for my First go around

The little 128 Grain Ball performed like a Bullet, The Way it Mushroomed Back

You can actually see the Patch Impression here, if ya didn’t know better, This would pass for a Cast Bullet instead of Ball. To bad they Don’t Shoot a Group as good as they Look here

What is your ultimate goal for this rifle? Is it for target shooting or for hunting? For target shooting my .45's seem to like 55 grains of 3f with a .445 ball and a .015 mink oil lubed patch. Both guns ar 1:48" twist, and i get 1" or less groups from the bench with this load. I have never hunted with a .45, but i did work up a load that shoots the .440 ball with .015 mink oil lubed patch and 75 grains of 3f that shot 1.5" groups at 50 yards and about 2.5" at 75 yards. I do not shoot game much beyond 60 yards as my personal limit due to trouble seeing the iron sights. I have friends that use the 45 for deer hunting, they are picky about their shots, but they have taken quite a few deer at over 50 yards and never recovered a ball.

Lewis just like any other rifle you have to play with it to get it to shoot its best. Try different patch thicknesses and even different lube. My .58 loves a pillow tick patch, a .530 round ball and olive oil lube. Yep, olive oil.

Did you swab the barrel between shots? I always do this with load development, the barrel needs to be in the same condition shot to shot for the best groups...